$40 Million Jury Verdict In Wrongful Death Suit Over TGI Friday Killing

A jury in Southern California has awarded $40 million to the parents of Orlando Jordan, who was stabbed to death in a TGI Friday’s restaurant. The jurors found that the restaurant’s operator was 55 percent responsible for the January 2009 death at a TGI Friday’s in Riverside, Calif. Jordan, 33, was dating the mother of Michael Castillo, who was said to have disapproved. Jordan was stabbed during an argument with Castillo, who had entered the restaurant with a friend. Castillo and Louis Martinez pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon. Castillo was sentenced to three years in state prison, and Martinez was sentenced to four years.

Castillo was 20 at the time of the killing, making him under the legal drinking age. Jordan’s parents, Rey and Carmen Jordan, contended that employees of the restaurant deliberately failed to check Castillo’s identification before serving him and continued to serve him alcohol despite his intoxication. It was said that Castillo ordered the equivalent of 12 alcohol servings in 30 minutes. A pattern of assaults at the restaurant and a lack of security cameras were said to have been factors in the jury’s findings. The jury agreed that employees served alcohol to Castillo even though he obviously was drunk. They found New Jersey-based Briad Restaurant Group to be 55 percent responsible for Jordan’s death. The two attackers were found to be 45 percent responsible.